I have a question about my BPs but I've only really seen this topic discussed among boa owners so I figured I'd drop it here.
My male ball python went off food for 10 weeks last winter, I tried to be as calm about it as I could and just let him fast, offering food every 4 weeks or so but otherwise I didn't do anything to try to persuade him to eat. His weight fluctuated by only a few grams that I assume was from drinking and passing water, but his body seemed to change a lot. It seems like all the fat he had on him was converted to muscle and his frame got more "mature" looking in a way that's hard to describe - he looks much less babyish around the face I guess. The very end of his tail, where it's basically scale and bone, is about twice as thick around. He also seems much more confident and active now, but that might just be him settling in and being comfortable here. All in all the fast seemed to really agree with him and he seemed healthier coming out of it.
I've heard boa owners allude to extended fasts triggering a change in metabolism that is a natural part of snake development, but can't find any details on this process - does anyone know more about it? I assume he's going to go off food again this year, and my female has just turned a year old so I wonder if it's worth having her fast too? Or do only males do this? If she doesn't go off food herself I'm wondering if it's healthy to try withholding food for, for example, a month in winter and see if she goes through a similar process, or is that not a good idea?
I'm very interested in following a more "natural" feeding regimen with them - I read some papers about python digestive processes and it said they can take a full week just to wind down from the physiological changes, so since they're both out of the rapid baby growth stage I moved them to eating every other week, and as a result I feel like they're more active in their tanks and when they're out for handling, since they're not constantly recovering from eating a meal. I think it's been a positive change on a small scale but I'm also curious about larger-scale fasting and if it's healthy for them.
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